Act IV: The Interval gives the world room to breathe. Some places have settled, others keep their history, and relationships have changed. The act shows that stress does not always lead to a worse stage.
Spoiler: Act IV (select to show)
Pip's keeper handoff and late recruitment happen here.
Scenes#
| Scene | What happens |
|---|---|
| IV1. The front that doesn't arrive | A forecast disturbance weakens or passes. The game shows the true reason: preparation, or a small input. No hidden decay punishes a player who rests. |
| IV2. The whole map now matters | Final preparation. The player chooses one unlocked class, one flex skill, zero or one Imprint (Imprints), provisions, and a companion only if one was recruited. |
| IV3. A disagreement that can end with work | Pip and Mote do different tasks at once. They no longer need each other to be wrong. |
| IV4. The unclaimed watch | The Relay post opens for 30 Supply. If it truly covers Pip's watch, Pip can step away. |
| IV5. The good visit | A calm return to the prologue's Hearth. The calm is sincere, not a "calm before the boss". |
Pip's handoff#
The relay post covers exactly one duty: Pip's keeper watch. It does not cover Pip's other jobs. After the handoff works in play (side-story step PIP6), Pip's story is complete and Quiet Handoff unlocks. A separate optional invitation, pip:PIP7, can then add Pip to the field roster. If Pip is the first recruit, the Coordinator unlocks at that moment. See Someone Else's Shift.
Development#
- Plan: scenes IV1–IV5 are in plan v0.5 Part IV.
- The user approved the relay post on 31 October, "as long as it balances the game and makes it fun at the same time". Claude B set the price at 30 Supply, final.
- The plan's IV2 mentions partial rests at Starwell and the Quiet District Depot. On 1 November the user moved resting to the Apothecary; the lead's audit lists this as current authority.
- In the alpha The Placeholder alpha's code offers the relay post for 30 Supply once scene IV4 is recorded, but no chapter after II1 is reachable there.
See also#
Sources#
- .GAME_PLAN/ARBORWAKE_THE_LONG_WAKE_COMPLETE_GAME_PLAN_v0.5.md (working copy, not in Git)
- .GAME_PLAN/ARBORWAKE_THE_LONG_WAKE_v0.5_CHANGE_HANDOFF.md (working copy, not in Git)
What links here (24)
- Act I: The Long Wake
- Act II: The Boundary Is Not a Wall
- Act III: What Stays After the Signal
- Act V: The Break
- An Errand That Was Already Underway
- An Hour Without a Request
- Arborwake: The Long Wake
- Ensemble scenes
- Epilogue: The Next Ordinary Day
- Evening Pair
- Hearth boards
- Home duties
- Prologue: The Last Regular Evening
- Relay post
- Someone Else's Shift
- Stress-associated neuroinflammation
- The Border of an Agreement
- The Five Stretches
- The Names at the Edge
- The Part Between
- The Stretch Between Neighbours
- The Uninteresting Ones
- Who Takes the New Road?
- Withdrawn story directions